Media challenged to educate Ghanaians on population census
The Minister of Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, has implored the media to rigorously educate and sensitise Ghanaians on the upcoming 2021 Population and Housing Census (PHC).
According to him, such a campaign will prepare the populace to understand the essence of the exercise in their personal lives and for national development.
In addition, it would whip up their interest, thereby, making the work of the enumerators easy and successful.
He said this during a press briefing in Accra on Sunday, June 20.
The exercise, which is under the auspices of the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS), is currently at the numbering stage, where trained enumerators visit various homes within their census area to do the “chalking and listing”.
Oppong-Nkrumah stated that the exercise would not achieve its intended goal without the strong involvement of the media.
The exercise gives the media the opportunity to offer some education, as there may be persons who do not understand the value of this exercise.
It also gives the media an opportunity to educate the populace on the benefits as “the Ghana Statistical Service has rolled out a whole data[set] concerning the benefits of the census data to the citizens and to the entire population,” Oppong-Nkrumah said.
The minister decried the sensationalism that is often embraced by the media and said that it is during a time like this when “major national exercises are ongoing that unfortunately, we don’t give it enough coverage and mileage.”
The minister, therefore, pleaded: “My plea to you [the media] is that you make space in your bulletins and programmes and lift the conversation about the census, its importance,” he said.
“If we are able to rally the whole country to participate in the census exercise, the Ghana Statistical Service can generate data in its various stratifications, which can be used for the kind of policy and programme planning that we are looking for,” he noted.
Meanwhile, this year’s population and housing census will commence on June 27, 2021, and end on July 11, with an opportunity for a mop-up to capture those who were not counted during the main exercise.
The exercise is meant to generate data that would be used in decision-making and planning for the development of the country and its citizens.
The Census would gather comprehensive and accurate data on the population and structures to guide policy formulation and allocation of resources.
READ ALSO: More Than Eight Million Structures Listed Within Six Days To 2021 Census
The Chief Census Officer, Professor Samuel Kwabena Annim, at the same press briefing, announced that more than eight million structures out of 11 million targeted have been chalked and listed within six days.
The chalking and listing of structures started on June 14 and expected to end on June 23, 2021, which formed the first phase of the 2021 Population and Housing Census.
The enumeration of Ghanaians and foreigners would officially commence on Monday, June 28 but there would be a Census Night on Sunday, June 27, to count persons in transit and the homeless.